Bumi says unaffected by coal export tax

Top coal mining house PT. Bumi Resources Tbk. Said on Wednesday it was unaffected by government?s decision to impose 5 percent tax on coal export as Coal Contract of Work (CCoW) shielded the company against paying the levy.

Company secretary Geroad Jusuf said in statement that its coal mining units PT.Kaltim Prima Coal and PT.Arutmin Indonesia are holders of first generation of CCoW and therefore are exempted from paying export tax as the CCoW exempted the companies from paying taxes that are not specified in CCoWs.

?CCoW is lex specialis,? said Geroad.

Bumi is the country?s top coal exporter as more than 90 percent of KPC?s production and more than half of Arutmin?s production go to export market. Bumi targets to produce 52 million tones of coal this year.

Ministry of finance on October 11 issued a decree to tax coal export by 5 percent.

Indonesian Coal Mining Association Chairman Jeffrey Muljono said that 90 percent of Indonesian coal export, which is expected to reach 110 million tones this year, would come from first generation CCOW holders, making the decree uneffective.

Elsewhere, director general of geology and mineral resources Simon Sembiring said that the ministry of finance decision to tax coal export would only hurt smaller second generation coal mining companies. (alex/godang)